The whole reason for the selfsufficientish website was to offer a place where anyone can ask, HOW DO I...? So who knows why it has taken us so long to have a HOW DO I? section, but here it is. So if you want to know how to do anything selfsufficientish then here is the place to ask.

Hey, I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how to get to those higher branches on my fruit hedges/fruit trees? I've got some tall crab apple hedges surrounding the entrance to our land and have other fruit trees that need pruning. I've not got too much gardening experience but me and my partner are quite eager to get more involved in the garden now that we've moved to our new home. I'm not too fond of getting up and down ladders so I wondered what other techniques/equipment people use to get up high? Often the branches can be quite thick so that makes things tricky too. As far as crab apples go, I had no real idea what they were until a neighbour told us. Are there any uses for the fruit or are they more for aesthetics?

We use long handled loppers on our fruit and nut trees, which saves a bit of up and down the ladder time. Some of the thicker branches take quite a bit of strength, but they are perfectly doable this way. Many of our neighbours use hydraulic pruners, which are much easier to use, but cost a fortune. Crab apples are great for making jam/jelly, chutney, sauce, apple cider vinegar and pectin. I suspect they'd be great for cider too.

I have a thing called a pole pruner, it comes with an extension pole, so you can probably get up about 10 foot or so it has a rope that you pull to operate the pruner at the top once you get it round your selected branch. Crab apples make a good jelly and are perfect mixed with blackberries as they have a lot of pectin to help set your jam or jelly

Thanks for all the advice, I'm looking forward to my wife experimenting with the crab apple ideas you've given us.

I've found an Irish auction site that does lots of new or used long-reach hedge trimmers. The petrol ones seem more heavy duty and I'd imagine they'll do a better job of cutting the larger branches. Some of them have a load of additional attachments for different tasks. I had no idea you could get these kind of trimmers with additional attachments. Just deciding on one to get, trying to compare reviews. Want something that isn't prone to burning out or breaking. This is going to make the gardening chores a lot less tedious and far less daunting. Thanks again